How to add your volunteer activities to your resume

January 26th, 2012 by wsimoncm No comments »
Resume Volunteer Section

Click to enlarge Resume Volunteer Section

This older post covers when you should (and shouldn’t) include v

olunteer activities on your resume.

So lets say you’ve decided to include some or all of your volunteer activities on your resume, you’re probably now asking what’s the best way to do this.

Before I dive into how to include your volunteer activities on your resume, let me just say this once more:

Remember only list those volunteer activities that directly relate to the position your targeting or align with the company’s culture and values.

 

OK now that I have that off my chest, lets get down to the details.

For each volunteer activity, at a minimum, should have:

1. The name of the organization
2. Their location (City and state is good enough)
3. Your role or roles for them.

OK, so far that seemed straight forward enough, so lets expand on this some more:

In addition you may want to add

4. The date you started volunteering for that organization.

Consider this – if you’ve been a volunteer for a year or more what you’re telling the reader is that this is important to you.

and since your including this volunteer role because it’s relevant to the job or company your giving the reader one more very strong piece of evidence that you are the person for this job.

 

But wait – there’s more …

Not everyone who’ll come across your resume isn’t necessarily going to know about each volnteer organization or may not understand the role you have.

which means you need to add:

5. A small description of the organization and the what your role entails.

No need to go overboard here a sentence about the organization, and one or two more for your role is more than enough.

Adding this description is a good check for you to make sure the volunteer activity you just included in your resume is relevant to the job or company.

If you can’t see a clear direct link, you’re going to need to either re-write the description, or remove the volunteering role since it doesn’t fit.

 

And finally if you’ve held multiple volunteer roles at the same organization,  -

6. List them in reverse chronological order, just as you did with your work history.

Your resume is all about showing how you (achievements, skills, experiences, training, qualifications etc..) are a perfect match for what they’re looking for, which means including relevant items from outside your “work” is a really good idea.

Good hunting

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5 Steps to beat the insider to land the job.

January 25th, 2012 by wsimoncm No comments »

Did you know internal candidates are 5 times more likely than an outsider to get a non-management position …

… and 3 times more likely for more senior positions …

… even when the insider isn’t as qualified!

 

You’ve obviously heard of the old adage, “Better the devil you know“, and so it is with making job offers.

You see there are 4 good reasons why the hiring manager would give the job to an internal person over an outsider

1. They know them better.

The Hiring manager is going to have a much better idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the internal candidate.

And even if they don’t know this directly, it’s a whole lot easier to find this out from their peers, colleagues and others in the organization.

2. Internal promotions are good for morale.

It’s a great way for an organization to say, we value our existing employees.

They’re also saying we are prepared to invest in ongoing training and development of our employees – which is good for the employees as that makes them more valuable in the market place.

3. Lead times are shorter.

Not just for bring the person on-board, but also getting them up to speed.

Having someone be able to contribute earlier takes a lot of pressure off the hiring manager and their choice.

4. They already know the culture and practices. 

The internal person already knows how the business works, where and how they get certain things done.

They also know how the company works and what’s acceptable and what’s not.

 

Seems like it’s pretty pointless to go up against an internal candidate – but you can still beat an internal candidate to land the job.

Beating an internal candidate is all about making yourself to be just like and insider.

 

Here are 5 steps to beat an internal candidate

1. Get at least one internal contact. 

You need to have at least one person inside the company who will be your champion.

Internal candidates have these relationships and champions, and so you will need to have yours too!

2. Make sure your resume perfectly matches the position.

The internal candidate knows the truth about the job and so they can fine-tune their resume to be very close to the mark.

Your resume needs to be just as “tight” and focused as theirs.

Your internal champions will be able to help you with this.

3. Blow them away with your interview.

Most internal candidates will suffer from over-confidence and may not put as much effort into wowing the hiring manager, figuring they’ve got the job in the bag already.

And by doing a much better job in the interview is where you will really trump them.

So practice your interviewing and make sure you cover all the major points that the hiring manager is looking for.

4. Character and skill will beat an internal candidate.

People hire people because they like them, so be yourself.

Show how you can make a difference in the company

And how they can best use the skills you have to make a difference.

Remember an outsider can bring new perspectives to a company, which the internal person may not even know about.

5. Don’t give up!

Yeah it’ll be a bit tougher than going up against just outsiders, but if this is the company you want to work for the additonal effort will be worth it

Also if the internal candidate doesn’t pan out as they had thought, or another similar position comes up, guess who’ll be the first person the hiring manager will call?

Yup – you!

 

Good hunting

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Is Your Elevator Pitch Tight?

January 24th, 2012 by wsimoncm No comments »

Don’t start to word your elevator pitch, before you know what it is you want and like to do!

Let me ask you a question: How specific is your elevator pitch?

I mean have you defined the job title and type of comany, even down to the industry and location?

Over the years I’ve spoken to hundreds of job-seekers and I’ve noticed people tend to fall into three types.

1. ”On-target” group,

These folks know their target  job (yes just the one type!) and the type of company they’re targeting

2. “Anything” group,

These people have  acquired great skills, knowledge and achievements, but are too scared to focus their job search on just one type of job, in case they miss out on something that looks really interesting!

3. “Don’t know” group,

These people aren’t even aware of what they like doing, what they want to do, or even where they’d like to do it.

 

When you ask someone “What type of work are you looking for?”

You’ll quickly be able to tell which group they fall into.

So, be honest, when you listen to your own elevator pitch, which group do you fall into?

If you’re having trouble creating your elevator pitch, it might be because you haven’t defined the  job your targeting enough.

Or worse still you’re hedging, and trying to include more options – just in case!

It may sound counter-intuitive but the more you focus your job search the more successful you will be.

 

Good hunting

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Happy Mondays!

January 23rd, 2012 by wsimoncm No comments »

Monday is happier than Tuesday but Saturday is happiest!

I was looking through some old articles I’d saved, because they were interesting and come across this one.

It was on NPR Newshour and talks about the days we’re the happiest!

I though it would have been Monday, but aparently not; Tuesday’s is a less happy day than Monday.

And if you were wondering the happiest time seems to be Saturday at 8pm. (I can think of quite a few reasons why that may be!

The research called “mappiness is created by George MacKerron and Susana Mourato of the Department of Geography & Environment and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

We want to better understand how people’s feelings are affected by features of their current environment—things like air pollution, noise, and green spaces.”

here’s their site http://www.mappiness.org.uk/

If you want to be part of the research there’s an iPhone app you can download for free.

 

Good hunting

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You’re worth it so ask for it!

January 19th, 2012 by wsimoncm No comments »

A commodity is something that lets itself get increasingly cheaper – don’t let that happen to you.

I’m going to assume you’re just like most other job seekers and right after you’ve decided on the jobs you’re targeting, you’ll have made some judgement as to the salary you want to make too.

And I also bet, if you just went with the figure you earned in your last job, you worried that you may be pitching too high.

Sure the economy is still bad, and you’re hearing from quite a few people as to how much they dropped their salary expectations just to land the job they got.

You don’t want to be foolish and give up good jobs just because the salary they offered was lower than what you wanted, but you don’t want to sell yourself short either.

Here’s the deal, if you believe you were paid the correct salary at your last job – lets say it was $60,000

Then that’s what your goal is this time.

If you’re worth $60,000 then you should ask for it this time!

Don’t start to negotiate against yourself, even before they’ve said anything.

It makes you come across as desperate and definitely likely to reduce your self-esteem somewhat.

You did a good job at your last job, and that becomes your focus - to demonstrate clearly your value.

Articulate what you bring to the new employer, demonstrate the results you achieved and the skills you bring.

Once they understand how much you bring to the table, they’ll be more likely to match your salary needs.

That said, don’t just base your decision on the salary aspect, take into account all the other “benefits” - they may just add up to a total package better than you got at your last place.

 

Good hunting

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5 steps to get feedback on why you were rejected for the job.

January 18th, 2012 by wsimoncm No comments »

It’s bad enough being told you didn’t get the job, but not knowing why you weren’t chosen means you don’t know what to do differently (if anything) for the next time.

It doesn’t help at all that some recruiters will only give the standard “unable to provide any details” answer, and won’t enter into any disucssion with you at all.

They do this to avoid any protracted argument/discussion from an emotional candidate – that’s you! because you didn’t get the job.

And since you’re obviously overwrought and distraught you’ll be looking for any hint of wrong doing so you can sue them.

At least that’s what they’re worried is going to happen so from their point of view it;s best to say nothing

But as a candidate that doesn’t help you one bit.

But how can you get the feedback you need, without worrying them unduly.

Here are 5 steps on how to ask and “listen to feedback” without getting into an argument.

1. Ask questions, don’t demand answers.

The goal for asking questions is to learn how THEY understood the skills, abilities, experiences you have.

Recruiters are not mind readers. You can’t expect them to “know what you mean” if you don’t tell them.

So when they say you didn’t have enough experience, and you thought you did, then you know you need to give better or more complete answers the next time.

2. Listen to what is being said without interruption

The hardest part about getting feedback is to hear it and not react to it.

It’s a natural reaction to want to clarify something you think they misunderstood, but remember getting the feedback is not about a do-over or another opportunity to interview again.

So when you’ve asked your question – listen and don’t interrupt.

Sure you can ask a follow up question to get more clarity, but don’t fall into the trap of debating every point with them.

3. Keep your ego, emotions in check.

This is really important for you to do, and consequently quite tought o achieve.

You have a lot of experiences and skills and achieved quite a bit in your career to date, and you are rigthly proud of all of them.

Which makes it tougher for you to hear that someone else doesn’t share your view of how important they are.

Leave your ego at the door, and keep your emotions in check.

4. Clarify any points, don’t get defensive.

You’ve asked a great question, you didn’t interrupted them when they replied, and your keeping yourself in check.

But then they either say something, or say it in such way, that you disagree with it, or you know they’ve gotten it wrong.

Rather than jumping to correct them, take the softer, better approach and ask clarification questions such as

“Could I have made the point better that I have 5 years administrations experience?”

or

“So you suggest it’d be good to highlight my 5 years admin experiences better”.

5. Thank them for their feedback, close on a positive note.

Recruiters, HR etc. are all busy people and many do sincerely want to give everyone feedback, it’s just not practical.

Which means if you’re one of the lucky ones that does get some of their time and their feedback make sure you acknowledge it with a Thank You“.

Ideally a hand-written note would be best, if you don’t have their address, an email is the next best.

Apart from the fact it’s courteous thing to do, you’ll be surprised how far that will go to help you in the future.

And you’ll have made a positive impression, which who knows it may help you get the next opening they have.

Which if that opening never got advertised so the candidate-pool was just one. YOU. – SWEET!

 

Good hunting

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Do you really need a cover letter?

January 16th, 2012 by wsimoncm No comments »

It’s better to include a cover letter when applying directly to a company, but not necessary for recruiters or staffing companies.

The questions that always gets asked is whether you should include a cover letter with your resume, – even if the job-ad didn’t ask for one.

Do a Google search on the topic and you will find the experts fall into two camps – those who advise you to not bother with a cover letter and those who advise you to always send one.

Ask 6 people and you get 7 answers!

From

“Cover letters are important, but not critical.”

“They’re important if you’re applying directly to a company,[...] But cover letters for third-party recruiters aren’t critical.”

“The ATS [applicant tracking system] system even strips them out,”

 

Other HR folks  do read them, but keep them brief.

“but recruiters don’t want to spend much time reading a cover letter”.

 

To

“Most people have a terrible cover letter, so I just ignore them all”.

As a job seeker which advice do you listen to?

While it’s great to have an ongoing discussion and debate, it’s not helping you right here and now, especially since you have this job you want to apply to, and need to know do you include a cover letter or not.

Here’s what I suggest: Always include a cover letter!

If the company / recruiter didn’t want it then they’ll just ignore it.

But if they did want a cover letter and you didn’t include one – that’s going to count against you and may be used to trash your resume.

Unless the job description specifically wants you to include a resume, there’s no way you can tell that not including a cover letter is going to hurt your chances.

So include a cover letter with your resume when you apply.

But don’t just send a one liner or two, make your cover letter enhances your resume.

How:

  • Put your best foot forward?
  • Make a great first impression?
  • Stand out from the crowd.
  • Grab their attention.
  • etc…..

Sure it’ll involve some extra effort on your part, but when it makes the reader more interested in your resume, and you – then it’s done it’s job.

How would you feel if you found out afterward, the reason you didn’t hear anything more was because you didn’t include a cover letter – or your cover letter was sub-par?

Yeah sucks right!

 

Good hunting

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Use selected achievements on your resume to make a massive first impression

January 12th, 2012 by wsimoncm 1 comment »

Around 10 to 15 second is about all the time your resume has to make a great first impression.

I’ve talked about using the  Objective Statement, or the SummaryStatement sections at the tops of the resume to make your resume stand out to help promote you and your skills

But if you want to really make a great first impression you need to WOW the reader right from the start.

You need the very first thing they read to make them want to carry in reading your resume.

It needs to immediately convey that you are someone they should seriously consider for the position.

While your summary statement is a good idea, it’s not as powerful as using “selected achievements“.

You’ve obviously got a lot of achievements, and most of them are pretty good … but some are going to be much better than others for this particular job.

Ideally you will have 3 or 4 of them right at the top of your resume – immediately below your contact information.

but don’t just pick any old 3 or 4 of them – these need to be the best achievements you’ve got – as they relate to the job

let me say that again, they need to be 3 or 4 of your best achievements as they relate to the job.

So while some achievements may seem better than others if they aren’t directly related to the job your targeting, you need to put them lower down in the employment history section.

What’s more, since these achievement statements ‘re going to be very visible at the top of the resume, take your time to get the wording just right.

The extra effort will be worth it in the end.

 

Good hunting

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3 Critical P’s of your job search

January 10th, 2012 by wsimoncm No comments »

Planning, Preparation and Persistence are key to dealing with the uncertainty of the  job search.

there are probably two things that cause the most anxiety for job seekers.

The first is that even if you follow the correct steps of job searching the right way, at the end you may not be offered a job.

And the second frustration is how long it will take

Not just the time and effort each day and week, but also the whole duration.

For some week become months become years.

But while no-one can tell you what job you will get and when, there are some well knows truths about the job search.

There is no magic bullet, no shortcut that can guarantee a quick result, it depends on you doing three things:

Plan

The temptation to just dive right in and redo your resume trawl the job boards and send A to B is huge.

But taking the time out at the start of your job search to actually plan the search will pay dividends later.

Your plan is obviously going to be based on what job and companies you’re targeting.

What you mean it’s not obvious !!

From there you can decide what tactics are best to get you in front of the hiring manager.

Remember the old truism:

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Prepare

Now you know what job you want, where and how you’re going to go about getting in front of the hiring manager, you’re going to need some stuff to support you

For example, a good base resume you can use and customize for each position you’re applying to.

Some business cards and networking page for when you’re networking.

Prep your immediate network of your impending job search

And plan the start of your networking.

Persistence

It’s how much persistence and perseverance you have doing the right things the right way, will ultimately dictate when you get hired …

Like following up after sending in your resume, or working your contacts to get the all important introduction.

Each “No” or “sorry” will ultimately lead to the a “yes”.

A great phrase you usually hear in sales comes to mind here:

some will – some won’t – so what – move on 

The job search is a marathon and not a sprint, which is why it’s easy to get disheartened and deflated.

When you’re going through Hell – KEEP GOING!

 

Good hunting

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Book Review: Job Searching with Social Media for dummies.

January 9th, 2012 by wsimoncm No comments »

Job searching with social media (for dummies) is awesome! Period.

If you want to use social media pro-actively to help you get your next job, then this is the book you need to read.

Here’s why

  • It’s clear the author, Joshua, knows his stuff.
  • Understands how to effectively weave social media into a job search.
  • Anticipates most of the questions a “dummy” would likely ask, as they’re going through the book.
  • Goes into it with an incredible amount of detail on each of the topics.
  • Doesn’t get too hung up on the advanced or super-technical stuff (it is a book for dummies after all).

When I read the book, I approached it as if I was a job seeker with virtually no “online presence” a dummy to the whole thing.

And as I went through the first two parts of the book, I have to admit, it did seem a little intimidating.

Now I’m probably more comfortable with Social media than a dummy.

So it bothered me that I had this feeling since there was nothing wrong or inaccurate with the book – it’s a really good book, with great details etc. (see the list above) ..

So why did I get this feeling?

… As I got to the end of Part two I realized why I felt somewhat intimidated by it:

If I am a “social media dummy”, then it’s probably true to say I have nothing online about me and I need to start creating it.

So chapters 1-5 are great for helping me establish a solid foundation, but I don’t see how diving into something as daunting as blogging is the correct next step for me.

True blogging was the original social media thing, but for a dummy-social-media-job seeker it’s not the first thing I should tackle.

And so to lead me gently into doing a job search and utilizing social media, I think creating an online resume (chapter 8) and LinkedIn (chapter 9) are the next 2 things to do after you do chapter 5.

And since I’m more likely to already be on Facebook, then using that next would make more sense.

So the order for the chapters would be: 1 thru 5 first, then 8, 9, 13 and 11, then 6, 7 11, 10 then 14-21.

I went back and re-read the books (ok it was a lot faster than the first time round), and the new sequence made sense to me.

So if you’re unsure or hesitant about doing this social media thing, I’d suggest following my sequence.

If you want to launch into Job Searching with Social Media then follow Joshua’s suggested approach.

Either way you do it, this book is going to help you MASSIVELY.

Excellent job Joshua!

 

Good hunting

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